Red Dead Online - Discussion & Speculation

ivarblaauw

How are you all? Most of you know me from the Map Additions Thread, which I gave up on quite a while ago.

​But I am back on the forums for perhaps the game I have closest to my heart: Red Dead Redemption.
​I know that I walk a mile in front of the crowd by saying I have high expectations of Red Dead's next installment: Renegades* and it's online part: Red Dead Online**.

​Having a great and vast map; ranging from small creeks in the Grizzlies Mountainrange to the Swamps in the Bayou NWA and the canyons of Nuevo Paradiso, will create the ultimate playground for us Westernfans.

So what do you think we will see in this counterpart of GTA Online? Well; here is what I think we will see:

​The map:

Spoiler

​

​​Encounters
​Encounters will work just like the free roam activities/missions of GTA Online. While freeroaming, players can come across different scenario's and act like they think is best. Outlaw or Marshall system in play, just like the Mental State in GTA Online.

Missions
​Missions will be similar to those current in Red Dead Redemption and GTA Online. Players can team up and play outside of freeroam.

Hideouts
​Hideouts will probably play a bigger role it Red Dead Online as in Red Dead Redemption Online. They will work similar, just walk up and play the hideout.

Character Creation
​This one is quite easy to predict; It will work similar as GTA Online. Buy Clothing, Weapons (and skins) and new horses (and skins) and gear (for both you and your horse) and perhaps a house here and there.

Hunting
​Unlike GTA, Hunting was a big part of Red Dead Redemption, this will only become a bigger part. How, I have no clue, but I know dozens of ideas that could be implemented.

So this is what I think we will see. Let your imagination and speculation loose.

​*That's how I will refer to the next installment from now on
​**This is only the Red Dead Online part, so nothing about Red Dead Renegades singleplayer.

Efreet

Sam Houser skin with special forces, such as unleashing darkness forces that can wipe out all enemy players in a deathmatch. In order to enjoy this special force, you have to pay $0.99 for every time you use it.

Shadowfennekin

What do you think we'd even be buying? Horses? Cars and vehicles are the most expensive things in Online aside from Yachts/Office/Warhouses.

I don't think we have to worry about SP getting a kick in the balls again, for this franchise at least. Or maybe I'm just in denial.

But they should totally bring Character Creator from GTA Online into Red Dead's MP. That way we can be our own character instead of Red Dead ones. It's not fun/realistic when everyone wants to be the same guy

John The Grudge

I don't think it will have any single player. I have very little interest in online gaming but that's the direction I see Rockstar going in. That's if a Red Dead game is in development at all. Until it's officially announced I'll remain highly pessimistic about Rockstar's future with regards to single player games.

If they do release Red Dead Online I think the player will start with very little. Rags, a donkey and no weapon. You'll be able to buy cheap rusty old weapons up to beautifully engraved weapons. Horses will have customisable saddles. Homes will range from wooden shacks up to large ranches that the player can kit out with decorations and defences such as gattling guns. They'll be able to hire other players as regulators/bodygaurds (just like Young Guns). It'll be much the same as GTA Online where there will be a large variety of cool stuff to buy for heavy prices. Jobs will pay very low amounts to entice players to buy hugely over priced shark cards. There will be a slow drip of exciting updates containing increasingly expensive stuff.

I suspect, however, that no Red Dead is on the horizon. Instead it'll be GTA Online 2.

Misunderstood

Take Red Dead Redemption's online mode. Bring it over to the new Red Dead. Fix some issues with it and enhance some of it. Profit? RDR's online mode sh*ts on GTA Online anyways, which is funny since it's pretty much the blueprint to it.

Efreet

I don't think it will have any single player. I have very little interest in online gaming but that's the direction I see Rockstar going in. That's if a Red Dead game is in development at all. Until it's officially announced I'll remain highly pessimistic about Rockstar's future with regards to single player games.

If they do release Red Dead Online I think the player will start with very little. Rags, a donkey and no weapon. You'll be able to buy cheap rusty old weapons up to beautifully engraved weapons. Horses will have customisable saddles. Homes will range from wooden shacks up to large ranches that the player can kit out with decorations and defences such as gattling guns. They'll be able to hire other players as regulators/bodygaurds (just like Young Guns). It'll be much the same as GTA Online where there will be a large variety of cool stuff to buy for heavy prices. Jobs will pay very low amounts to entice players to buy hugely over priced shark cards. There will be a slow drip of exciting updates containing increasingly expensive stuff.

I suspect, however, that no Red Dead is on the horizon. Instead it'll be GTA Online 2.

Yup, your typical deathmatch mode being made into many varieties but essentially the same concept. If it's going on the same path of GTA Online, then in addition to what your listed, you can expect feeding your horse, growing crops and selling it to other players to feed their horses, engage in a wild west economy such as selling animal's skins from which clothes and saddles can be made, collect herbs to make medicine that restores your health and you can also sell it to buy weapons and higher grade horses. You don't want to grind and level up to unlock new items? well, we have shark cards whenever you want them. It can give you an instant boost in this tough and resource-limited economy.

Take Red Dead Redemption's online mode. Bring it over to the new Red Dead. Fix some issues with it and enhance some of it. Profit? RDR's online mode sh*ts on GTA Online anyways, which is funny since it's pretty much the blueprint to it.

Nutduster

I've never stopped being surprised how many people prefer Red Dead's multiplayer, or GTA IV's, to GTA Online. While Online has many issues (especially the shark card economy, though I would argue that is almost a necessary evil unless we're all willing to pay subscription fees to play), I think it's mostly a large improvement over both of its predecessors. I played GTA IV multiplayer for a week or so and gave up. I played Red Dead multi for a couple weeks, then retreated to single player and played that over again. In both cases the central problem was clear to me: there was just nothing to do. Both had a few fun game modes but free roam - which has always been the core of the Rockstar open world experience to me - was a barren wasteland with just a few activities (like hideouts), where players mostly resorted to killing each other over and over again. GTA Online is even prone to that a lot, but there are tons more activities - especially now, after the addition of VIP and CEO content, and free roam challenges. And when you DO just go killing each other, there are myriad ways to do it: Pegasus vehicles and phone abilities and muggers and mercs and all that. Red Dead and GTA IV tended to be the same damn thing repeated a thousand times over: spawn, start shooting (or getting shot), wash, rinse, repeat.

I don't know how much a hypothetical Red Dead Online would resemble GTA Online. But despite the problems I've had with GTA Online, I am absolutely hoping that they use it as a jumping-off point for the next Red Dead game. If it's just the same stripped-down, empty multiplayer as before, I'll spend exactly as much time with it - which is very little. Whatever else you think about GTA Online, over time it has come to be absolutely packed with things to do, both in and out of free roam.

--

Regarding the idea that there will never even be another Red Dead (or Rockstar-made) single player game, we are getting way ahead of ourselves. WAY ahead. Yes, GTA Online has been a cash cow and they have milked the hell out of it. But let's not forget a few basic facts:

2. Red Dead Redemption also made a bundle and was massively critically acclaimed, and was almost entirely a single player game; the multiplayer portion was an afterthought for most players I knew. (A bunch of my friends played that game; few of them did anything with multiplayer other than mess around for an afternoon.)

3. Dan Houser was a main writer on Red Dead and the GTA series. He considers himself more a writer than a developer, is the rumor about him, and The Benz' lawsuit explicitly says that the Housers contributed more on the writing side while he was the technology guy, and also the guy who wanted to (and did) design Online. They just ousted The Benz and have regained sole control of the company. I find it hard to imagine that they're going to give up the thing they seem to love best and steer entirely in a direction pioneered by a guy they just publicly fell out with.

I do think Red Dead Redemption 2/Red Dead 3 (whatever it ends up really being called) will have a robust multiplayer akin to GTA Online - maybe not quite as frequently updated because the player base would likely be smaller. But I don't think for a second that Rockstar is ready to abandon single player. If we're looking mainly at the lack of GTA V DLC as our evidence for that, we only have the GTA community to blame there; the GTA IV DLCs were well known to be financial under-performers, and I don't think Undead Nightmare was quite the windfall they wanted, either (even though it ruled). So we will very probably get a Red Dead sequel in single player form, but as for a DLC for that game - maybe not.

EDIT: It is absolutely hilarious that this forum auto-replaces the name "Leslie Benz.ies" with The Benz.

Brandon00151

Hopefully Rockstar doesn't low ball the mission payments just to sell shark cards. I mean this game will likely take place early 1900's or late 1800's and I just don't see how Rockstar could push the shark cards this time unless they are totaly scumbags and make the missions pay dirt and the prices for everything aren't unrealistically high for the time period.

If Rockstar was fair.

Contact Missions/Job would pay $100-$1500 (starting missions are $100 and you are offered higher paying jobs as you level up)

Horse Racing would offer $25-$500 depending on place finish and race length.

Death Matches would offer $100 foe losing team or $300 for winning team

We should be able to sell general collectables,supplies,materials, and animal pelts/meats to a general store for $5-$100

There should be other various ways of making money that vary.

Buying a horse should cost anywhere from 1000-5000 and you should be able to buy carts and wagons for your horse that you can store supplies and other players can ride in.

Guns should range from $200-5000 for most firearms with the conception of the Gatling Gun which would be $10k

InfernoV

I want the online to be exactly the same as RDR expect with 30 player free roam instead of 16. The online in RDR imo was perfect, i have never been so good at anything in my life like i was on RDR multiplayer.

It'll be just another little Rock$tar money maker, to be honest. Brainless kids playing, more stupid useless content, Single player abandoned to death. Rock$tar lost his true focus a long time ago.

If Rockstar lost their focus we would be getting yearly installments of GTA. Rockstar are the best thing to happen to the gaming industry but yes i hope they focus on the single player more in this game and give us a long story with the same online as rdr expcept with 30 players instead of 16.

Darealbandicoot

If red dead 3's online takes more priority over the single player(if it isn't as superior as redemption's) than there is nothing we can do about that. We may be waiting years for single player DLC to arrive like GTA v. Redemptions single player didnt require any new guns or horses as DLC as it was perfect already. Plus undead nightmare satisfied those wanting more Marston.